Iran urges UN to condemn Trump’s ‘unlawful threats’ amid nationwide protests
United Nations/Tehran: Iran has formally appealed to the United Nations to condemn what it described as “reckless and unlawful threats” made by United States President Donald Trump, as protests over rising prices and economic distress continue across the country.
According to an Al Jazeera report, a letter was sent on Friday to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the president of the UN Security Council by Iran’s ambassador to the UN Amir Saeed Iravani, accusing Washington of violating the UN Charter and international law. He called on the UN leadership and Security Council members to “unequivocally and firmly condemn” remarks by Trump that Tehran views as provocative and dangerous.
The letter was dispatched hours after Trump said the United States was “locked and loaded and ready to go” if further protesters were killed during the unrest in Iran. In a post on Truth Social, Trump warned that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the US would “come to their rescue.”
Iravani said any attempt to incite or legitimise internal unrest as a justification for external pressure or military intervention constituted a serious breach of Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Holding the United States fully responsible for any consequences arising from what he termed illegal threats, he added that Iran would exercise its right to defend itself “in a decisive and proportionate manner."
Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that demonstrations continued on Friday in several parts of Qom, Mashhad, Hamedan, Marvdasht, Yasuj and Tehran. The protests began after shopkeepers in the capital went on strike earlier this week over soaring prices and economic stagnation.
Authorities said at least nine people have been killed and 44 arrested since the unrest began. The deputy governor of Qom province said one person died after a grenade exploded in his hand, describing it as an attempt to inflame tensions.
Responding to Trump’s comments, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned that US interference would lead to regional instability and damage American interests.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
